Bay of the North. . . . We passed the summer quietly coasting the
seaside. . . . The people here burn not their prisoners, but knock
them on the head. . . . They have a store of turquoise. . . . They
find green stones, very fine, at the same Bay of the Sea
(labradorite). . . . We went up another river to the Upper Lake
(Winnipeg)." [10]

For years the dispute has been waged with zeal worthy of a better cause
whether Radisson referred to Hudson Bay in this passage. The French
claim that he did; the English that he did not. "The house demolished
with bullets" was probably an old trading post, contend the English;
but there was no trading post except Radisson's west of Lake Superior
at that time, retort the French. By "cows" Radisson meant buffalo, and
no buffalo were found as far east as Hudson Bay, say the English; by
"cows" Radisson meant caribou and deer, and herds of these frequented
the shores of Hudson Bay, answer the French. No river comes from the
Saguenay to Hudson Bay, declare the English; yes, but a river comes
from the direction of the Saguenay, and was followed by subsequent
explorers, assert the French.[11] The stones of turquoise and green
were agates from Lake Superior, explain the English; the stones were
labradorites from the east coast of the Bay, maintain the French. So
the childish quarrel has gone on for two centuries. England and France
alike conspired to crush the man while he lived; and when he died they
quarrelled over the glory of his discoveries. The point is not whether
Radisson actually wet his oars in the different indentations of Hudson
and James bays. The point is that he found where it lay from the Great
Lakes, and discovered the watershed sloping north from the Great Lakes
to Hudson Bay. This was new ground, and entitled Radisson to the fame
of a discoverer.